Poll Finds Many Farmers Worse Off

More than two-thirds of Iowa farmers and well over half of Illinois farmers say they are worse off financially than they were a year ago, a poll shows.

Moreover, more than half of the farmers in these two states, along with those in Indiana and Wisconsin, believe their financial prospects in the next few years are not too good, according to the poll by the Farm Progress Publications. The company, based in Lombard, Ill., publishes Prairie Farmer, Indiana Prairie Farmer, Wallaces Farmers and the Wisconsin Agriculturalist.

The company interviewed 1,763 farm men and women in personal interviews in the four states during the latter half of 1985. The poll found that half the farmers in the four states said they were worse off financially than they were a year ago.

In Iowa 69.7 percent of the farmers said their financial condition was either somewhat worse or far worse, compared with preceding years. In Illinois, 58.7 percent of the farmers said their financial condition had worsened.

It wasn`t quite that bad in Indiana and Wisconsin. A worsening financial situation was reported by 41.2 percent of the Indiana farmers and 33.4 percent of the Wisconsin farmers.

When asked about the overall trend in their financial position, 46.3 percent of the farmers in the four states said they were holding their own. Another 28.5 percent said their position was slowly weakening.

About 8.3 percent reported a rapidly weakening trend; 3 percent weren`t sure, and 13.9 percent said the overall trend in their financial position was improving.

Reporting a decrease in net worth in the last two years were 83.5 percent of the Illinois farmers, 78.3 percent of the Wisconsin farmers, 68.1 percent in Iowa and 61 percent in Indiana.

As for the future, 33.7 percent of the farmers in the four states said financial prospects for their type of farming look ``fair`` in the next five years. Only 1.1 percent said the future looked ``very good,`` and 11.7 percent described it as ``good.``